[Kzyxtalk] Last Chance for Public Comment

[David Gurney]

On US Navy warfare training off the Pacific Northwest.
Due by 12 midnight tonight at:
https://www.nwtteis.com/Public-Involvement/Public-Comment

My version:

                                                 June 12, 2019

The Navy has requested the public to provide “public review and substantive
comments” on its continuing use of the Northeast Pacific Ocean for training
and testing of modern naval warfare, and the effects these activities will
have on the mammals, birds, fish and invertebrates that inhabit these
waters.  In an effort to justify these activities, the Navy has funded
scientific institutions and public relations firms to the tune of tens of
millions of dollars per year, to produce a lengthy EIS in 2015, revised
this year, contending that military activity will have little or no effect
on the marine environment.  Further, in its PR campaign, the Navy has
through its promotional materials contended that the Navy is somehow a
“steward” of the marine environment that is “protecting the seas through
science.”  The Navy has emphasized that it will respond only to substantive
comments, yet the essence and substance of the Navy’s EIS campaign is to
gain permits to allow these activities, by the use of willful
disinformation.  It is therefore difficult to provide substantive comments,
when the substance of what you’re commenting on is genuine, unmitigated
bullshit.

By now it is common knowledge and accepted science that military sonar
causes mass strandings of marine mammals.  These creatures have no defense
against the lethal and debilitating effects from major underwater blasts of
active sonar and explosives, and no amount of corrupt, paid-off “scientific
data” will alter this fact.  In 2015, the Navy cynically asserted in its
EIS that their activities will have zero mortality effects on marine
mammals.  The current EIS reasserts these claims, with minor changes.  The
proponents of these claims should be in court, facing charges of fraud.
The closest the Navy comes to admitting harm, in all its efforts to
whitewash the truth, is to admit on page 14 of its “Marine Species
Monitoring Program” brochure, signed by the Commander of the U.S. Pacific
Fleet, saying that “some stranding incidents have been coincident to naval
training with sonar and explosives, which is of great concern to the Navy.”

I cannot blame the U.S. Navy for trying to protect the American people from
foreign adversaries.  Of course, it is not the role of the military to turn
the tide of humanity away from competitive nationalism, mutual distrust,
and war.  But the Navy could have a primary role in enforcing an
international treaty to ban submarine warfare, and by extension, nuclear
weapons.  The Navy could also take an active role in combating climate
change, and doing something about the large quantities of plastic that are
choking the life from our oceans.  In my opinion, this is what needs to be
done if humanity is going to survive, much less the marine species that are
the inevitable “collateral damage” of mankind’s never-ending quest for
military superiority.

I believe the Navy needs to reverse course 180 degrees, and fight for the
survival of humans and the ocean in the face of these challenges – with
international cooperation instead of antagonism.  Whether or not our
political leaders worldwide will have the wisdom to provide this direction
to their navies remains to be seen.  As for now, my recommendation is the
No Action Alternative, to deny the U.S. Navy permission to conduct warfare
training and testing activities off the Northwest Coast of the United
States.

                                                   Signed,

                                                   David R. Gurney
                                                   Fort Bragg, CA


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